Users of remote video conferencing applications may not be aware of whether they are properly framed within the video frame as viewed by other participants in the video conference. To prevent poor framing, some video conferencing systems, such as the Halo Video Conferencing system developed by Hewlett-Packard Company, have dedicated conference rooms which include tables and chairs specifically designed to properly position meeting participants. This careful design ensures that the video conference participants are well aligned with the conferencing system's cameras and microphones, increasing the likelihood that video conference participants are well framed within the video.
Unfortunately video conferencing applications that allow users to join meetings in an ad hoc fashion using cameras and microphones attached to a PC or laptop, cannot rely on this careful design. To provide information to the local user as to how they are viewed by remote participants in the video conference, some remote conferencing applications cotinuously display video of the local user along with video of all the other video conference participants on the user's screen. While a local user can receive information about how they are framed by actively viewing the continuous display, this can be distracting. People can be easily distracted by seeing video of themselves during a video conference, making it difficult for the participant to concentrate on the meeting itself.
Some systems use face detection to try and improve video quality. But face detection algorithms will not detect many framing errors that result in poor video composition because, for example, they fail if the face is not fully in the frame. Some systems combine motorized pan/tilt cameras with face detection techniques in an attempt to keep a video conference participant in frame automatically, thus providing good video composition. These systems require additional hardware components which add cost and size limitations to the system. In addition, a moving camera view can be distracting to remote viewers, especially if the camera motion is jerky or unnatural.
A method of detecting and measuring whether the composition in a video frame is esthetically pleasing without unduly distractions or adding significant costs to the video conferencing system is needed.